General Electric is adding a second new production line at its manufacturing plant in Louisville that will create more than 430 new jobs.
The company is investing more than $80 million in its Louisville Appliance Park facility to add a manufacturing line that will produce high-end, energy-efficient front-load washers and dryers. GE anticipates beginning production of the washing machines in the third quarter of 2012; dryer production will begin in the third quarter of 2013.
The announcement follows GE’s decision in June to manufacture its new line of energy-efficient, hybrid electric water heaters in Louisville, creating approximately 420 jobs. GE is the first manufacturer to introduce a water heater that will meet the new 2009 U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star standard for the new category of hot water heaters. Production is expected to begin by 2011.
“We can’t make these products in the U.S. competitively without everyone coming to the table – unions, the company, employees, local, state and federal officials,” said GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO Jim Campbell. “We are grateful to the state and the city for their continued support in bringing these new products and jobs to Appliance Park.”
GE said it will give preference for the new jobs at Appliance Park to any current GE employee who loses his or her job due to a plant closing at another GE Kentucky location. That will provide the chance for alternative employment to GE employees affected by technology changes or the effects of the recession in locations such as Lexington and Owensboro.
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